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Form: Human
Description You blend in seamlessly with other humans though older therianthropes have been known to take on subtle "deformities" that might indicate their nonhuman heritage. Though none have ever sprouted a tail and ears. Deformities can include slightly pointed ears and teeth, oddly coloured eyes, thickened fingernails, excessive body hair, and slightly hunched posture (for more information, see below -'' A Note On Aging'') A natural perk to this form is that you normally won't get killed by other humans for immediately being recognized as a monster. But compared to a normal human you have slightly elevated senses of hearing and smell, though not necessarily vision. You're also stronger and faster, your body maintaining a level of a regularly practised athlete. A sedentary lifestyle can contribute to the degradation of this physical advantage, however, and can take quite a bit for you to retain your former glory. Staying in shape isn't that difficult as it is, as the transformation itself gives your body an intense and very healthy workout, but the more you put off a transformation, the harder and more painful - and slower - it can be to reassume another shape. Even in human shape, you are also very good at detecting the physiological state of other humans or shapeshifters. And the more astute you are as an individual, the more others will appear as mere open books. Lying, for example, is often superseded by an accelerated heart rate, sweating, darting eyes, or stuttering. All of which can also be associated with fear. These are like huge, neon signs to a predatory animal such as a werewolf. It is therefore very difficult to lie to a werewolf or other such being. But all these super powers come at a strange cost that can be pretty steep depending on who you are: you carry inside your head another personality that is almost always poking and prodding into your business and thoughts, especially when you least expect it. This isn't true of all therianthropes, however. Many have a very symbiotic and balanced relationship with their Other Half, but even they may sometimes struggle with it. At the worst of the times, it may give others the impression that you are schizophrenic or suffering from some disassociative disorder, especially if the animal mind decides to force its way into whatever it is you're currently doing, sometimes to the point of forcing a transformation, which is, needless to say, worst case scenario. When the animal mind does happen to take over, you will most definitely not act yourself, your behaviour taking on the aspects of whatever animal part of you is in control. Many therianthropes deal with this similar to how many mentally ill maintain themselves, whether through therapy, meditation, or even medication (See the Apotropaics section of Werewolves and You.) Luckily, most animal minds do not want to be found out as much as their human minds don't, even if sometimes they may appear oblivious or their motives completely selfish. A Note On Aging It is widely believed that natural born shapeshifters age much slower than those made through a bite. While at first they age normally, once they hit puberty, experiencing their first change, their aging process will begin to slow and may appear to halt altogether once the individual has reached their thirties. They may appear to remain in this state for many years to come, with the average being about 200 before they begin to show signs. These can include the typical indications of human aging - greying hair, wrinkles, health issues. But shapeshifters, particularly those who have spent much of their time in fur, will begin to show evidence of their inhumanity somewhere between the 200 and 300 year mark. These can include but are not limited to the following: * Mildly sharpened or pronounced eye teeth. * A subtly thickened ring around the eye (bestia orbus). * Iris color change - usually brighter like those of their transformed state. * Hair color change - resembles that of their transformed state. * Posture change - typically more hunched. * Thickened nails, almost resembling claws. * Excess body hair/patches of scaled skin/pinion tips poking through pores. * Thickened pads on the palms of one's hands and feet. * Vestigial tail. * Pointed ears. * Slightly elongated torso or limbs. All of these signs can manifest in varying degress of severity. In rare cases they will begin to show up in relatively young shapeshifters but often they are still very mild or subtle, hardly noticable unless one looks close. These qualities effect both naturalborn and bitten therianthropes alike. These qualities will also manifest more readily in Wolfborn werewolves - those born in fur and who take on a human shape at the onset of puberty. Wolfborn is always born to bloodlines who either have excessive amounts of inbreeding in their backgrounds or come from a very long line of pureblooded shapeshifters. For more information on this, see the section on Wolfborn . How to Acquire This form comes standard. Human Form Abilities These abilities are the ones most associated with the human world and human form. Obviously, human characters may have them and werewolves used to living in the human world will likely have many as well. Arms Rank 1 Prerequisite: none Cost: 1 Being trained in the art of weaponry may seem like a useless skill when armed with tooth and claw at will, but human weaponry can still injure, or even kill the most powerful were, and knowledge of how to use that weaponry can be very handy. Pick a weapon type to be familiar with and when using that weapon in combat, every bone spent with an attack with it, is worth +2 Fragments. Rank 2 Prerequisite: Arms (Rank 1) Cost: 1 Augmenting once allows for a broader knowledge of weaponry, and more focused use of a singular weapon, increasing the Fragments of Bones spent with any weapon they are familiar with to +3 Fragments. Rank 3 Prerequisite: Arms (Rank 2) Cost: 1 Augmenting again allows for mastery over a single weapon and familiarity of arms of all types, even ones they may have not ever handled before, the mastery of the single weapon means all actions using the weapon gain +1 Fragment. Tact Rank 1 Prerequisite: none Cost: 1 Uncouth people may still be able to function, but the skill to make others see one's perspective is one that brings many people far. Even wolves respect those who are thoughtful and tactful more, and far more likely to lead. One expects at least a modicum of tact available to become a leader because intimidation can only go so far. This ability allows the character a +1 Fragment to all attempts at persuasion or diplomacy. This ability will not work on Eclipsed beings. Rank 2 Prerequisite: Tact (Rank 1) Cost: 1 Augmenting allows a +2 Fragment to attempts at persuasion or diplomacy, and a +1 Fragment towards compromising with Eclipsed beings. Rank 3 Prerequisite: Tact (Rank 2) Cost: 1 Augmenting a second time allows the character to possibly even get the attention of one who has lost their mind entirely to the Berserker. They gain a +1 Fragment towards attempting to communicate or bargain with a Berserker. Martial Arts (Rank 1) Prerequisite: none Cost: 1 Training the body like a weapon, martial arts masters practice using their hands, feet, and entire body to disarm opponents, and defend themselves. Most cultures teach to avoid violence and mix discipline of the mind and body into the art. Those who follow the path of martial arts, gain +1 Fragments on any defensive rolls used in a physical confrontation. This applies to all physical forms including human, were, animal, and dog head. The individual also gains a +1 Fragment towards any attempts at disarming their opponent, relieving them of any weaponry they may have. Martial Arts (Rank 2) Prerequisite: Martial Arts (Rank 1) Cost: 1 The individual has taken the time to hone their fighting skills in all available forms, including spirit. While in human form, they gain a +1 Fragment towards any attack roll using their body (not weaponry) and can include a +2 Fragment towards any attack roll using claws or teeth while shifted (were, animal, spirit, dog head only). (Note: Spirit form cannot use physical weapons including guns, respectively. However, they could potentially through the ability Poltergeist, but only temporarily. Animal form cannot use weaponry, respectively.) To improve your character's proficiency with weaponry in their were or dog head forms, see the wereform ability Selenlion. Savvy (Rank 1) Prerequisite: none Cost: 1 Navigating the mortal world is hardly easy, and adding on top of that the changes that come when infected may throw many off. However, street smarts can get you pretty far in life. Being able to read others’ intent, or even just make common sense decisions can save one's ass. Allows a character to discover the intent of another through reading body language and guessing their behaviour. Savvy (Rank 2) Prerequisite: Savvy (Rank 1) Cost: 1 Augmenting allows the character to use their savvy to read a group of people. Savvy (Rank 3) Prerequisite: Savvy (Rank 2) Cost: 1 Augmenting again allows the character to discover hidden motivations of someone once per scene. Awareness Prerequisite: none Cost: 1 Some characters are simply more aware of the world around them than others. Humans, in particular, must have eyes in the back of their head to survive in a world with many creatures that want to eat them. Awareness is simply a measure of how likely they are to notice those around them. When making any perception check of the senses, the character may add Fragments to the tests equal to the rank in this ability. Willful (Rank 1) Prerequisite: none Cost: 1 The character is extremely strong of will, and because of that alone may overcome odds simply through force of will. The character gains +1 bone per scene over whatever their current total is. Willful (Rank 2) Prerequisite: Willful (Rank 1) Cost: 1 Augmenting increases this Fragment to +2 bones per scene. Willful (Rank 3) Prerequisite: Willful (Rank 2) Cost: 1 Augmenting again increases this to +3 bones per scene. First Aid (Rank 1) Prerequisite: none Cost: 1 The character has received basic medical training at some point in their lives, whether it was through the community association or self-taught, they know how to dress and stitch a wound, perform CPR and the Heimlich manoeuvre, treat someone experiencing shock, or reset bones. First Aid (Rank 2) Prerequisite: First Aid (Rank 1) Cost: 1 Augmenting indicates that they have the capability to provide more complex treatments such as measuring and administering injections or medications, safely amputating limbs, treating burns and acid wounds. First Aid (Rank 3) Prerequisite: First Aid (Rank 2) Cost: 1 A second augmentation indicates that the character has received advanced medical training and has ample experience. While they may or may not hold a formal doctorate of medicine, they might as well. They may be a few entries shy of a walking medical dictionary. Hunter (Rank 1) Prerequisite: none Cost: 1 The character is an enemy of one specific type of supernatural creature, whether it be lycanthropes, demons, elementals, spirits, vampires, or any other kind of unnatural creature. When in combat with the chosen creature type, every bone spent whether on defence, offence, or even more subtle and manipulative actions has a value of 2 bones. This type of fighting style will immediately be recognisable when using it, as it's something learned and common to hunter groups. This means that simply using this advantage will tip one's hand, and can be quite dangerous when surrounded by enemies. Hunter (Rank 2) Prerequisite: Hunter (Rank 1) Cost: 1 Augmenting this ability allows for silver, cold iron, or other weakness protections in enemies to be reduced. Enemies who have worked up the tolerance to their weakness, are more vulnerable to the hunter's knife. Reduces augments or training of any bonuses against the weakness by 1 rank. Additionally, the fighting style increases to +3 Fragments for bones spent against their target creature type. If they are only trained, it's treated as untrained. Hunter (Rank 3) Prerequisite: Hunter (Rank 2) Cost: 1 Augmenting again allows the character to temporarily enchant an item with the property of the enemies chosen weakness for one hour by cutting into their flesh with it and letting it feed on their blood. It gains the property of silver, cold iron, or any other weakness (Such as cold for a fire elemental) for the duration. If the character themselves is weak to the property, be warned as they will be harmed by it as well. If the character does not have an internal power source to use for this it will drain a bit of their Life Energy. Category:Character creation Category:Forms